Chelmsford students are 'Legolicious'

The Lowell Sun

Updated:
12/30/2012 06:37:14 AM EST

CHELMSFORD -- An all-girl, rookie Lego League team of five fifth-graders and three fourth-graders from Chelmsford that called themselves "Legolicious" went into their qualifying tournament with the simple hopes of doing well and gaining experience.

The girls -- Jessica Garcia-Bejar, Olivia Dalton, Allison Dorsey, Shea Kenny, Emily Nolan, Emma Reitman, Gabby Sabbouh and Evelyn Thim -- at first met 1-2 times a week starting in August to learn how to program a robot made from Lego products; use science and technology to master skill challenges; work with their senior partners and sponsors from The Summer Palace to identify and develop a product to assist seniors in making life easier; design and perform a skit illustrating their ideas; and execute a series of tasks for a team of judges without adult supervision to prove they have knowledge to back up their product at the tournament.

They had a great time while impressing the judges with their spirit, teamwork and overall performance.

Competing against 23 other teams of varying experience and ages, the girls took an early lead in robot performance that held steady for the entire day and earned them second place. The award recognizes the team that scores the most points during the Robot Game.

The Chelmsford group also received the Teamwork Award, which recognizes the team that is able to accomplish more together than it could as individuals through shared goals, strong communication, effective problem-solving and excellent time management.

That wasn't it, though. The girls were later announced winners of the Champion's Award, the most prestigious award any team can win.

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It celebrates the ultimate success of the First Lego League mission and values. It also measures how the team members inspire and motivate others about the excitement of science and technology, solve problems, and demonstrate respect and gracious professionalism to everyone involved in the competition.

The performance earned the members of Legolicious a spot in the state championship, held earlier this month at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where they finished 21st out of 84 state qualifiers.

The group could not have done it without the tireless work of their coach, Leon Reitman, and assistant coach, Chris Dorsey. They gave their time to help the girls with building and programming the robot, assisting them to find the right project and presenting it to our senior partners. They also helped find the team's sponsors, FESTO and The Summer Palace.

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